A £5 fare has cost a Stone cabbie more than £1200 after he was caught in an operation to crack down on illegal taxi drivers.
K Cabs driver Philip Lockley was found guilty of plying for hire illegally when he agreed to take undercover police and borough council officers to the Darlaston Inn in Stone. He was also convicted of not having insurance when he appeared before magistrates in Cannock on Wednesday 3rd June.
Lockley, aged 58, of Newcastle Road, Stone was given fines totalling £575 and ordered to pay £600 in costs, as well as a £37 victim surcharge. He was also given six points on his driving licence. He had denied the offences in August.
The court heard that the officers were in Station Road when they asked the driver of a vehicle displaying the K Cabs logo to take them to the pub. They were told it would be a £5 fare.
Drivers who do not have a hackney carriage licence can only pick up passengers that have booked in advance – and it is illegal for them to collect customers in the street or from a taxi rank. The ‘Safer Nights’ operation aims to reduce the risks to residents of uninsured and unsafe vehicles on the roads in the borough.
Cabinet member for environment and health, Councillor Frank Finlay, said following the case: “We are determined to clamp down on drivers who stick two fingers up at the law by picking up customers when they are not entitled to by law. One of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our community and this operation aims to protect the public as they are at risk, because these vehicles will not be insured if they are picking up passengers in this way.”
Councillor Finlay added that along with having to pay fines and costs, points on a driver’s licence can make insurance cover more expensive as well.
There have been a number of successful prosecutions over the last few months following the joint operation by the police and council.
More information on taxis and private hire vehicles can be found at www.staffordbc.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/taxis-and-minicabs
2 comments
Bill
Dear Jamie, I write to try to offer some back ground information to your article about the Operation safer nights and illeagal taxi pickups in Stone.
This was a sting operation partnership between SBC & the Police to entrap Private Hire & Stoke-on-Trent licenced cab drivers who have been seen to pick up illegally in Stone especially over Friday & Saturday nights. The law that is being used is the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 amended in 1871 for the first prosecution of an unlicensed Hackney Carriage(HC) vehicle being used for Private Hire (PH). This same law requires that every Hackney carriage has a bale of Hay stored in the rear of the vehicle. Why do we still use ancient legislation where it suits us but ignore other parts of the law? The key point to be thought about is what is the public’s perception of the law because in the UK the ‘common law’ forms a large part of our legislative process. It is my finding that the general public think of PH & HC as being taxis for their service as required. This included for immediate hire when requested.
The article stated that the cab driver was convicted of not having insurance. This is not accurate. He had PH insurance. This is exactly the same as HC insurance and costs much the same to each driver or company. What the article should have said was that because the driver picked up illegally his insurance became null and void. The outcome is the same and in this case adding 6 points to his driving licence in addition to his existing points means that he will be banned from driving, loose his PH taxi licence and Stone will no longer have a minibus at its disposal.
Lastly I would challenge SBC to define ‘Ply for Hire’. I have done some reading around the publications on this and it is far from clear. I have a number of questions I would like the answers to;
1. How far in advance does an appointment need to be made for a PH vehicle? The law would suggest that immediate hire even when conducted by telephone is still Plying for Hire.
2. Can the appointment be made face to face with the customer eg. “Can I have another taxi same time next week” or does it have to be made by telephone? Remember telephones were invented in 1876 and not widely available when this law was written.
3. What are PH vehicles supposed to do when they are not actually being hired but waiting for the radio call or telephone to ring? The law would suggest that any PH vehicle waiting and displaying its livery & licence plates on any public or private road, where the public have reasonable access to pass by, is ‘Plying for Hire’. Are PH operators expected to provide garaging to hide their vehicles during waiting periods?
It’s time to end the confusion caused by local authorities continuing to sell both PH & HC licences at the same price, then expect the public to know & respect the difference between these forms of carriage using a law 168 years old this year. I call on SBC to end the differentiation of PH & HC by passing new local bylaws and labelling all taxi ranks for the use of PH & HC vehicles. The public deserve the best service we can provide.
Jamie Summerfield
Hi Bill. All the information we used came from a press release from the borough council. Many thanks for your comment, it’s very much appreciated